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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Amrit Dhillon in Delhi

India’s plan for untouched Nicobar isles will be ‘death sentence’ for isolated tribe

Seven men from an Austroasiatic Indigenous group wearing loin cloths ad carrying sticks or spears walk along a river in a forest
The Shompen people of Great Nicobar Island will die if they come into contact with outsiders under the ‘Hong Kong of India’ project, say experts. Photograph: Anthropological Survey of India

Academics from around the world have urged India to cancel a huge construction project on Great Nicobar Island, warning it would be “a death sentence” for the Shompen hunter-gatherer people who live there.

The $9bn (£7bn) port project, planned to transform the Indian Ocean island of 8,000 inhabitants into what has been called the “Hong Kong of India”, includes the construction of an international shipping terminal, airport, power plant, military base and industrial park. It will also develop tourism.

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